Like… on purpose?
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It’s an arranged marriage. Their (the MC’s I mean, not the spouse’s) parents did it on purpose.
(It gets worse.)
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I have officially lost it, I just love thinking of new ways to improve my wip by shooting myself in the foot. Lord please my brain and its gift of not thinking of the storyline before I write the old draft.
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I ended up with one of their full sized models, the V6 Max. Really happy with it, very smooth typing experience.
I don’t really need the 10key, but I just can’t make myself give it up. I’d have to type in 2FA codes using the number row and that would just feel wrong.
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One week left of October 
I’ve been working on some perfectionism this month. Granted, I’ve still been very productive, but since getting back into writing, I’ve had the feeling that it needs to be perfect, slowing me down a fair bit. At least it makes for good first drafts haha. Good luck to everyone finishing up the Halloween jam and to those prepping for NaNoWriMo!
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Are you kidding? (No wait, you’re not 
) Where did the month go? 
If anyone else would like to create the support thread for November, please let me know as soon as possible! Otherwise, I’ll set it up.
Meanwhile, I’ve finished the additional chapters for Scarlet Sorceress, but I think November might be a busy time for school. I’m wondering if I should post the update as soon as it’s ready, or wait for Thanksgiving week. 
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Thank you so much for offering to set up the next thread, and good luck with the final stages of Scarlet Sorceress! I’d say if it’s ready, it’s probably good to post earlier than Thanksgiving - people may be busy with family stuff around the holiday.
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If it’s not too much trouble @ChanceOfFire, is it possible my teaser could be included in the post as a new WIP? I Barely made it in October, but we still have a week left 
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Done. That said, people are less likely to look at the initial post so late in the month, but I can also add your WIP to next month’s thread as well, if you want. If anyone here has a moment, do take a look at Midnight Bloodletting.
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Thank you so much! Both for throwing it up here and offering to do so next month as well. I’m already updating the link cause I totally screwed up somewhere uploading the files 
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@Ambervert Definitely admiring silently (not as silent anymore)…
and question: how did you go about running random tests?? OR are you still going to run it??
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Honestly thanks for that! It’s definitely been an experience, but definitely a fun one!
Haha yeah…that’s the funny part…I don’t. I do it manually
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Does anyone have good tips for “punching up” small talk? Particularly in a chapter in which the player character has to meet a lot of new people. I’m not a small talker myself and coming up with dozens of conversational gambits for a single chapter is draining me 
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Small update to The Bureau for the first time in like, a year.
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What is the context for the meetings? Club? School? pub? generally small talk is situational unless you are just trying to start up a conversation about anything.
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If you’re new to writing these games, I recommend putting a limit on the amount of branching you plan to do. While it can be tempting to come up with a dozen characters the player can speak to at the beginning, it is easy to get burnt out fast once you are actually working on the dialog trees for each one. If you are running out of ideas, try setting strict limits for the number of characters and branches.
Going back to the original question, I usually read other games, just to learn from their styles and ideas, and see if it gives me any inspiration of my own. Plus, to cut down on the work, you could have characters offering different takes on the same topic (e.g. the weather) rather than creating unique conversations for each one
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Sheeesh… for real though, all the best 
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Ngl, for me specifically, the hardest part about writing an IF is probably how much customization options I wanna give people. It’s hard to know when to stop tbh cause I myself love these options in other IFs I’ve read. The main problem is I really want these options to be more than just flavor text. I know I’m putting too much work on my plate but god is writing complicated code addicting.
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I’m spotted wandering the wilds, muttering “deadlines are healthy and they promote productivity” as I emerge from an hour-long deep dive down fantasy name generators.
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- How do you know X?
- What occupies your time these days?
- (if in transit) Are you headed back or to? (or ‘back, to, or through?’)
- Have you ever seen an X like this before?
- I love your X. Where did you find it?
- I love your X. Does it have a story behind it?
Mostly, I’ve learned, the best small talk is showing a curiosity or interest in someone.
But I also strongly agree with @ChanceOfFire’s advice. Dialogue gets hairy fast.
ETA: While “what do you do” is a common small talk question, it doesn’t always come across well as it assumes that the other person (a) has a job, and (b) is defined, in some way, by that job. Better to ask where/how they spend their time and put it on them to decide what to share. Most people still share jobs, but sometimes they’ll share hobbies or other passions.
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